Remote-controlled and fed bottle smasher



June 26, 1951 JOHNSON ET AL 2,558,255

REMOTE CONTROLLED AND FED BOTTLE SMASHER Filed July 3, 1948 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 /0 I a Z O O O I) Z 5 INVENTORS Noe/04w E. J y/v.5 OA/ drepmsw .1 Wax. c/l

wlm*m A rr e/vE Y5 J1me 1951 N. E. JOHNSON ETAL 2,553,255

REMOTE CONTROLLED AND FED BOTTLE SMASHER Filed July 3, 1948 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTORS Noe/WEN 7 JOHNSON JrEpHE/v J. WsacH Patented June 26, 1951 REMOTE-CONTROLLED AND FED BOTTLE SMASHER Norman E. Johnson, Milwaukee, and Stephen J. Welch, West Allis, Wis., assignors to Johnson & Welch Mfg. 00., Inc., West Allis, Wis., a corporation of Wisconsin Application July 3, 1948, Serial N 0. 36,878

10 Claims. 1

This invention relates to a remote controlled and fed bottle smasher.

It is a primary object of the invention to provide simple, inexpensive, speedy and effective means of disposing of non-returnable bottles. In the tavern business, particularly, the disposal of such bottles presents a tremendous problem due to the bulk of the bottles. It is our purpose to provide means whereby a chute leads from the baror counter to a bottle smashing device disposed in the basement, the chutehaving an admission door which, upon the insertion of a bottle, operates a switch which sets the bottle smashing mechanism into operation, the controls including means for maintaining it in operation fora period sufiicient to complete the disintegration of the bottle. It is important to the invention that the bottle smashing apparatus be remotely fed, since the time required for the bottle to traverse the chute is necessary to enable the bottle smashing apparatus to reach effective speed.

Other objects of the invention will be more clearly apparent from the following disclosure thereof.

In the drawings:

Fig. 1 is a View partially in perspective and partially in section showing an installation of a device embodying our invention.

Fig. 2 is an enlarged fragmentary detail view of the bottle smashing portion of the apparatus as it appears in vertical section.

Fig. 3 is a bottom plan view of the coverof the bottlesmashing apparatus and the rotor thereof.

Fig. .4 is adetail View taken in section on the line 4-4 of Fig. 3.

Fig. 5' is a detail View on an enlarged scale showing in section the bottle receiving end'of the chute.

Fig. 6 isa. diagram of the wiring circuit.

Fig. 7 is a view similar to Fig. 2 showing a modified embodiment of the invention.

Fig. 8 is a view taken in section on the line 8-8of Fig. 7.

The level of the floor on which the empty bottles accumulate is indicated at9 in Fig. 1. Upon this floor is a service counter or bar [9. Opening from this counter or any suitable shelf such as that shown at Ii is the receiving receptacle !2 into which the empty bottles l3 are inserted. This receptacle is desirably, although not necessarily, closed by a door at I4 which is pushed aside by the entering bottle. This door is hinged at I5 and carries an arm l6 which, in the opening of the door, allows switch I! to close under the pressure of its biasing spring l8 as shown in Fig. 6. The switch l1 controls the circuit of a relay [9 having an armature plunger 2%]. When the door is opened to energize the relay circuit by the closing of switch I l, the armature 20 pushes the switch actuator 2| to close the switch 22 and simultaneously to act against the diaphragm (not shown) of a conventional timing device 23. The movement of air into the timing device following the operation of its diaphragm is controlled by the regulating screw 24, and only after the displaced air is readmitted into the timing device 23will the actuator 2i move back to a position where the switch 22 will be permitted to open. Meantime, the motor 25 is in operation.

By the time the bottle inserted into the receiving hopper l2 has passed through the chute 25 and is discharged therefrom into cabinet 21, the disintegrating hammers 28 mounted by means of hub 29 on the motor armature shaft 30 will be in full speed operation. These hammers rotate in a path which carries them across the delivery end of the chute 26. The chute 26 is desirably made of flexible conduit to facilitate its installation. The rate of hammer operation is such that as a bottle emerges from the delivery end of the chute, it will be struck and substantially pulverized by repeated blows of the hammers 28. The disintegrated glass falls downwardly across the rubber lining 3| of the throat 32 into a collect ing can or other receiver at 33. The disintegrated glass takes only a small fraction of the space required for the storage of the original bottles.

As soon as the bottle is received into the chute 25, the trap door I 4 recloses behind it, but due to the timing device at 23, the motor continues to operate for a period sufficient to permit the motor not only to reach full speed, but to fully disintegrate the bottle upon its arrival in the dis integrator.

It will, of course, be understood that the use of a trap door such as that shown at I4 is desirable to exclude from the tavern the noise incident to the operation of the disintegrator. It may also be desirable to cut off air circulation through the chute 26. Except for these considerations, any other convenient means for the remote operation of the disintegrator might be used.

In the device shown in Figs. '7 and 8, disintegrating drums 35 and 35 have coacting ribs 31 disposed axially of their respective peripheries. These drums are mounted on shafts 38, 39 which also carry gears 40, 4! for operating the drums in unison. One of the shafts carries a pulley at 42 which is connected by a suitable belt with the driving motor 25.

It is our experience that considerably less power is required to operate the device first described, and the use of the hammers, instead of the crush: ing drums, is, therefore, greatly preferred. However, the disclosure of Figs. 7 and 8 suggests that various other forms of crushing devices may be used in the general organization.

We claim:

1. In a device of the character described for breaking up bottles delivered thereto from a remote point through a conduit and depositing the pieces into a removable receptacle, the combination with a case having a doorway through which such a receptacle is movable, of a hopper Within the case above the doorway, the case having a top provided with a conduit opening through the top into said hopper, and a rotor having a mounting in said top offset from the conduit opening and a rotor shaft in the mounting and upon which the rotor rotates across the opening in a plane toward which bottles admitted through the opening are directed, said rotor comprising at least one hammer movable with said rotor across said conduit opening to cooperate with said top at the opening for the shearing disintegration of a bottle engaged therebetween, and a motor having an armature shaft in driving connection with said rotor.

2. The device of claim 1 in further combination with a conduit leading thereto and a motor control circuit including means in the conduit for initiating motor operation and a timing control for terminating such operation after a predetermined period.

3. A device of the character described comprising the combination with a cabinet having a doorway and apertured tep and a hopper between said top and doorway, of a conduit having a receiving end remote from said cabinet and a delivery end communicating with the aperture of said top, said conduit being provided at its receiving end with a motor control switch operable upon the introduction of a bottle into the conduit, a bottle disintegrator within said cabinet in the path of bottles traversing said conduit, said disintegrator being adapted to deliver the fragments of said bottles through the said hopper, and a motor connected with said disintegrator for the actuation thereof, said motor having an electrical circuit controlled by said switch and further provided with a time control for de-energizing said motor after a predetermined period of operation thereof.

4. The device of claim 3 in which said disintegrator comprises a rotary hammer cooperative with said conduit for the disintegration of bottles mutually engaged therebetween.

5. The device of claim 3 in which said disintegrator comprises a pair of co-acting crusher cylinders.

6. The device of claim 3 in which said conduit is provided with a bottle-displaceable closure at its receiving end, said closure having a switch operating arm, and said motor switch being positioned to be actuated by said arm.

7. A device of the character described comprising the combination with a cabinet having a door opening adapted to receive a waste receptacle, a hopper in the cabinet above said door opening and provided with a resiliently flexible lining, a top on the cabinet provided with an opening for admitting bottles to the cabinet above said hopper, a rotor mounted within the cabinet and provided with a plurality of hammers successively movable across the path of bottles admitted to the cabinet through said opening, and cooperative with said top at the opening for the disintegration of said bottles, a motor mounted on the cabinet and provided with a driving connection to the rotor, a flexible conduit leading to said opening and having a remote bottle receiving end, a trap door normally closing the bottle receiving end of the conduit and provided with a switch operating arm, a switch having an actuator arranged to be operated by said arm in the course of trap door displacement consequent upon the insertion of a bottle, and a motor circuit having a time controlled relay connected with the switch to be controlled thereby, said relay initiating motor operation upon the displacement of said door and including time controlled means for independently maintaining the motor in operation for a predetermined period thereafter.

8. In a glass breaking mechanism, the combination with a hopper, a chute having a receiving end and a delivery end opening into the hopper remote from the receiving end, of apowerdriven disintegrator in the hopper adjacent said opening, and a control circuit for the disintegrator comprising a circuit closing switch at the chute receiving end having actuating means'extending into the chute in position to be actuated upon the introduction of a body into the chute, and a timing device for independently maintaining the disintegrator in operation for a predeter REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 459,352 Wagner Sept. 8, 1891 484,884 Schock Oct. 25, 1892 876,335 Cooper Jan. 14, 1908 1,045,205 Skirrow Nov. 26, 1912 1,355,847 Rathman Oct. 19, 1920 1,698,758 Knittel Jan. 15, 1929 1,700,819 Bert Feb. 5, 1929 1,706,643 Wiley Mar. 26, 1929 1,894,569 Metzger Jan. 17, 1933 1,931,555 Mosley Oct. 24, 1933 1,942,166 Gisser Jan. 2, 1934 2,044,564 Carter June 16, 1936 2,086,383 Gruender July 6, 1937 2,156,075 Alexay Apr. 25, 1939 2,292,852 Werner Aug. 11, 1942 2,339,961 Stevenson Jan. 25, 1944 27 Kirn June 27, 1944 2,442,813

Jordon June 8, 1948. 

